Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action. Speaking in Avon-by-the-Sea, notes how much U.S oil is exported. Photo by Jack Fichter

AVON-BY-THE-SEA -- “It is a dark, dark day for the nation's coasts, some say it's as black as oil,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action.

Representatives from nine environmental and fishing groups and local governments gathered on the boardwalk in this seaside town Wednesday, Sept. 17 to condemn the “bowing of Congress to oil companies” to allow oil drilling along the nation's coasts.

“It ends an era, nearly a generation of ocean protection,” said Zipf.

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an energy bill that allows offshore drilling for oil and gas 100 miles from shore regardless of a state's wishes and as close as 50 miles from the coast if a state decides to permit drilling. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Gov. Jon Corzine wrote a letter to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, opposing any efforts to weaken a moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing in the North and Mid Atlantic Planning Areas. His letter noted the state's tourism economy totals $38 billion of which 65 percent comes from oceanfront communities.

David Byer, water policy attorney for Clean Ocean Action, said a new leasing plan from Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior could allow drilling as close as three miles to shore since President George W. Bush lifted his protected area moratorium.

Even if no drilling takes place off the Jersey coast, Cape May County's biggest concern would be drilling just 100 miles away off Virginia.

“If Virginia drills, the Gulf Stream is going to bring all the oil spills and pollutants from these operations up to the Jersey shore,” said Byer.

He said MMS was seeking to open up drilling leases in areas of military operations, which goes against the wishes of the Department of Defense.

Zipf said the U.S. sold 522 million barrels of oil to countries such as China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last year.

“Right when the oil surge was kicking off and we are all getting panicked and the prices were going up, we were shipping record amounts of oil overseas,” said Zipf.

She said the U.S is on track to sell 681 million barrels of oil to foreign countries this year.

Zipf asked if the U.S. is in an oil crisis and wants to drill in protected coastal areas, why would it be escalating oil exports overseas?

“The answer is the oil companies are making more money selling it overseas than in the U.S.,” she said.

The amount of oil estimated by MMS to be offshore from Maine to Florida would last only six months at the nation's current consumption rate, said Zipf.

“We are talking about destroying the tourism economy, fishing industry, boating, diving, surfing for a potential for up to six months of oil,” she said.

Zipf said U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez are opposing offshore drilling “but they need to rally their colleagues in Washington to strike back against what clearly makes no sense at all.”

Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club New Jersey chapter, said it was impossible to drill our way out of energy dependence since the Unites States has 3 percent of the world's oil reserves but uses 25 percent of the world's oil.

He noted it was discovered last week that the government agency responsible for offshore drilling, MMS employees, were involved in accepting sex, drugs and payoffs from the oil companies and their lobbyists “in exchange for looking the other way in offshore oil leases.”

“We have a system that is corrupt and broken and now they're saying we are going to drill more,” said Tittel. “They say 'drill, baby drill' and its spill, baby spill…”

He said the U.S Senate could add economic incentives to the House bill that would encourage states to allow offshore drilling. Tittel said there was no guaranty oil drilled off the coast would help America since half the oil drilled in Alaska goes to Japan.
“The only oil we ever want to see on a beach in New Jersey is Coppertone,” he said.

Zipf said MMS is working to put out a five-year lease plan to expedite oil and gas drilling, which includes areas currently under moratorium.

Dena Mottola Jaborska, executive director of Environment New Jersey said the federal energy administration has acknowledged offshore oil drilling would not produce drop in the price of gas until 2030. She said six major and five medium oil spills occurred during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2006.

A total of 228 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were seriously damaged during the two hurricanes. Of that, 113 rigs were completely destroyed.

She said higher federal miles per gallon standards for cars could more than offset the amount of oil that could be drilled in protected areas.

By setting a standard of 35 mpg by 2015, 3 billion barrels of oil could be saved by 2020, “which is triple the estimate we could get from opening up our protected areas.”

Peg Sturmfels of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said since 2001, the number of new offshore drilling permits tripled yet gasoline prices have also tripled.

Commercial fisherman Jimmy Lovgren of Point Pleasant, a member of Garden State Seafood Association, said the state had $150 million of catch, all of which would be jeopardized by offshore oil drilling. He said the East Coast was estimated to have about 600 million barrels of oil offshore.

“If that rings a bell with anybody, we exported 500 million barrels last year, we're on target for almost 700 million barrels this year, if we keep that oil in this country for one year, we don't have to drill out here,” said Lovgren. “The American public is being scammed by the oil companies.”

It takes 1 million pounds of drilling mud to drill one offshore oil well, he said. The drilling mud contains five to 10 pounds of mercury which winds up in the ocean, said Lovgren.